NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Monday after President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods, though they pared much of their early losses as healthcare shares rose and some investors remained confident of an eventual trade agreement.

Trump on Sunday said tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods would increase to 25% from 10%, reversing a decision he made in February to retain them at 10% as the United States and China made progress on trade talks.

China said on Monday that a delegation is still preparing to go to the United States but did not mention if Vice Premier Liu He, its lead official in the negotiations, will be part of the team as originally planned.

Trump’s threat inflamed fears of a slowdown in global growth, which have periodically roiled markets over the past year. The benchmark S&P 500 fell as much as 1.6% during the session while U.S. Treasury yields dropped as investors turned to low-risk government bonds.

However, the major indexes recovered much of their losses in afternoon trading as some investors remained hopeful that a trade agreement would soon be reached.

“It seems like a negotiating stance,” said David Lefkowitz, senior Americas equity strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management’s Chief Investment Office in New York. “Our base case still is that China and the United States do find common ground.

“The probability that there is a negative outcome has probably gone up a little bit, but quantifying that, it’s hard to say,” he added.